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    EnQuest preparing for three-year P&A campaign at North Sea Heather field

    March 25, 2021
    EnQuest has issued an update on decommissioning activities at its fields in the UK northern North Sea.
    (Courtesy EnQuest)
    Enquest325 605cac81aacc9

    Offshore staff

    LONDON – EnQuest has issued an update on decommissioning activities at its fields in the UK northern North Sea.

    Last June the UK regulator accepted the cessation of production (CoP) application for Heather, reducing EnQuest’s share of costs from 100% to 37.5% and allowing decommissioning to proceed.

    The platform remained shut in and depressurized all year, with the well abandonment program due to resume this summer (the platform rig is being readied for decommissioning). Approval should also come through shortly for the CoP application to Broom, a satellite development via the Heather platform.

    In total, EnQuest plans to P&A 41 wells across both fields over a three-year period.

    Decommissioning work has started for Thistle/Deveron with well abandonments due to get under way in 4Q.

    The Dons fields ceased production early this year following the receipt of partner and regulatory approvals for the. The floating production platform Northern Producer is being used for initial decommissioning activities such as flushing of the subsea infrastructure and to support well isolations.

    These activities should finish during 2Q, with the semisubmersible platform then departing the field and returning to its owner.

    As for the company’s active North Sea fields, Magnus in the East Shetland basin was hit by an unplanned third-party outage and power-related failures, but these have since been rectified.

    In addition, a successful well intervention at Magnus and early commissioning of gas lift at Kittiwake in the central North Sea have led to increased production at both field centers.

    A new round of development drilling is planned for Magnus in 2022, and following the award of block 211/12b under the UK’s 32nd licensing round, the company will launch subsurface studies to investigate future opportunities.

    Magnus still holds 2C resources of 35 MMboe, in addition to around 250 MMbbl of remaining mobile oil in place that requires further evaluation to assess future drilling and tieback prospects.

    At Kraken, overall subsurface and well performance has been sound, with water cut evolution remaining stable. The company continues its focus on optimizing production through improved producer-injector well management, incorporating the results of regular well testing programs.

    No drilling is scheduled at Kraken until 2023. However, EnQuest does plan a 3D seismic campaign in the second half of 2021 to support work to identify near-field drilling and subsea tieback opportunities within the Pembroke, Antrim, and Maureen sands discoveries and prospects in the western area, thought to hold in-place oil of 70-130 MMbbl.

    Offshore Malaysia, production last year was impacted by a riser becoming detached at the Seligi Alpha platform which provides gas lift and injection to the Seligi Bravo platform. This led to a release of gas which initiated an automatic emergency shutdown of the PM8/Seligi field, although partial operations were restored within two days, with wells flowing under natural pressures.

    Normal levels should return during the second half of the year when the damaged riser and pipeline are set to be replaced.

    EnQuest has identified numerous low-cost drilling and workover targets in PM8/Seligi, and expects to resume development drilling in 2022, subject to partner approvals.

    03/25/2021